Friedemann Tischmeyer

Preserving dynamics with MasterCheck

Mastering for today's distribution platforms with MasterCheck

by Friedemann Tischmeyer, Mastering Academy

Can
dynamic range save the music industry? It’s a huge question, but
it’s one that I’ve devoted a large segment of my career to
answering. I’ve done my share of work for big-name, commercially
successful bands and I’m well-acquainted with the “loudness wars”
dictating that every mix should be as loud as possible. But in
recent years, my focus has begun to shift to independent artists and
musicians that tend to be more interested in sound quality – and
that piqued my curiosity about dynamic range. With every dense and
hypercompressed mix that showed up in my workflow, I became more
certain of the flawed logic in “louder is better.” It’s
really no surprise that music listeners are losing the willingness to
legally acquire music, since so many contemporary releases are
mercilessly over-compressed – a situation that turns off even the
biggest music fans.

Out
of this, I developed my own simple metering tool to measure the
dynamic integrity of musical content that became the industry’s
first dynamic range meter. And, in 2009, we founded the Pleasurize
Music Foundation, a global umbrella organization that seeks to
re-establish dynamic range as the most important means of expression
in all genres of music. Our aim is to improve
the sound quality of music in its various recorded formats –
including data compression methods such as MP3 – as well as music
destined for radio broadcast.

Throughout
this journey, I’ve become a firm believer in NUGEN Audio metering
tools. More than any other audio technology vendor today, NUGEN Audio
has embraced the idea of dynamic range as the key to producing a mix
that is pleasing to the listener and presents the music as it was
originally intended. Most recently, I’ve had the opportunity to
work with NUGEN Audio’s newest tool for the music industry,
MasterCheck. In brief, MasterCheck is the first
music-industry-specific
audio plug-in designed to facilitate mix and mastering for the modern
world of loudness-normalized playout. iTunes®, Spotify®, and DAB
Radio all now use loudness normalization, and MasterCheck reveals how
the consumer will hear audio on these music platforms, and others, by
using internationally recognized loudness, dynamics, and true-peak
standards.

MasterCheck
is far more than a metering tool – it’s a very versatile tool
supporting and solving leveling issues in the transformative period
between peak normalization and loudness normalization. With
MasterCheck, audio engineers can employ a single plug-in to apply
loudness matching and dynamic content analysis, using techniques such
as peak-to-loudness ratio (PLR) to compare multiple sources. The
advanced side-chain loudness matching can also be used to audition
signal paths, without the "improvement" of increased
loudness, to understand precisely how various effects, such as
compression, can change the sound with no influence from the loudness
enhancement. I have adopted MasterCheck to augment my own loudness
metering tools in the classroom as well as my mastering and mixing
projects. MasterCheck’s true-peak metering and the convenience of a
fast, loudness-compensated A/B comparison with reference tracks are
an ideal complement to my TT dynamic range meter, which I use offline
to measure dynamic integrity.

In
the coming years, more and more audio distribution platforms will
apply loudness normalization – meaning that material produced and
mastered to be very loud will be automatically leveled in line with
the platform’s target levels. Hypercompressed audio will be at a
distinct disadvantage, and music that has been produced with a
broader dynamic range will sound richer and more satisfying.
MasterCheck
is a fantastic tool for enabling engineers to adapt to the new world
of dynamic range and make a gradual transition. After all, the
loudness wars developed over 30 years – and the new world of
dynamic music can’t emerge overnight.

A
world with the best-possible sound quality is a cause that I believe
in deeply. It’s the driving principle behind the Mastering Academy,
where our intent is to develop a new generation of mastering
engineers devoted to creating music
that sounds great, rather than hitting the loudness ceiling as hard
as possible. After all, only music that provides a positive listening
experience has real market value. If the music industry is serious
about reviving listeners’ willingness to pay for music, they’ll
pay serious heed to improving the creative process around recording,
mixing, and mastering.

With a 30-year career and references ranging from Steely Dan and Johnny Cash to Alan Parsons, Friedemann Tischmeyer is a renowned mastering engineer and a leading expert in the fields of loudness and psycho acoustics. He is the author of best-selling reference books including “Internal Mixing” and “Audio Mastering,” and his “Audio Mastering Trilogy” is the industry’s most comprehensive and complete work on music mastering. Over the past decade, Friedemann has developed a complete mixing and mastering curriculum that he now teaches through his Mastering Academy (www.mastering-academy.com).